Old things in the south

Chapter 7 Hui'an Pavilion (6)
I closed my eyes again, and leaned my head against the wall to listen to Niuer's rambling, I seem to have heard this story before, who told it?Also said that the child's package was thrown to the root of Qihuamen City early in the morning?Maybe I'm dreaming, I often dream now, Song's mother said that I was crazy about playing during the day and I was full at dinner, so I gritted my teeth and talked nonsense.Yeah?I closed my eyes and asked Niuer:

"Girl, you told me this story several times!"

"Nonsense, I never told anyone. It's the first time I'm telling you today. You're so confused sometimes, and you still say you want to go to school! I don't think you can pass the exam."

"But, I really know! When you were born, the grass was turning yellow and the green leaves were about to fall off. It was a lukewarm autumn, but the scent of sweet-scented osmanthus wafted in for a while from the window..."

Niuer pushed me, I opened my eyes, she asked strangely:
"What are you talking about? Did you fall asleep again and talk nonsense?"

"What did I just say?" I forgot, maybe it was in a dream just now.

Niu'er touched my head and my arm, she said: "You are so hot! You have worn too much clothes! Take off my clothes!"

"Where is it hot? My heart is so cold! It's so cold that I want to shiver!" I said, looking at my two legs, they really started shaking.

Niuer looked out the window and said:
"The rain has stopped, I should go back."

She was about to stand up, I grabbed her again, put my arms around her neck and said:
"I want to see the bruise on the back of your neck, Xiao Guizi, your mother said you have a bruise on the back of your neck, let me look for it..."

Niu'er pulled away from me slightly, and said, "Why do you always talk about Xiaoguizi Xiaoguizi today? You are acting like my father is drunk and talking nonsense!"

"Yes! Your father likes to drink wine. It's to drive away the cold in winter. It was very windy that day. Your mother ordered some wine for him and bought half-empty peanuts..."

I was talking in a daze, pulling away Niu'er's dog-tailed braid, no, no, in a daze, I saw a finger-sized green mark in the middle of the messy yellow hair root .I was shaking all over.

Niu'er pressed her face against mine and said in amazement:
"What's the matter with you? Your face is so hot! It's all red, are you sick?"

"No, I'm not sick," I regained my spirits at this moment, but Niu'er held me in her arms, and I happened to see Niu'er's pointed chin.She lowered her head, her big eyes suddenly filled with tears.I also seem to have some grievances. In fact, I feel that my hair is heavy and I can't support it.Niu'er hugged me like this, caressing me, a kind of dear feeling, made me shed tears.Niuer said:

"Yingzi, you are so pitiful, you are so hot!"

I also say:
"You are so pitiful, your own father and mother—ah, girl, I will take you to find your own mother, and you will find your own father together."

"Where can I find it? Go to sleep, I'm afraid of you, don't talk nonsense." As she spoke, she hugged me tightly again and patted me.But at what she said, I struggled from her arms at once, and cried out:
"I'm not talking nonsense! I know where your mother is, it's not far away." I put my arms around her neck and whispered in her ear: "I must take you there, your mother said, call I saw you and took you there, that is, yes, there is a green mark on the back of the neck!"

She looked at me strangely again, and after a while said:

"Your mouth smells so bad, you must have gotten angry from eating too much. But, is this really the case?...You mean my own mother?"

I looked into her surprised eyes and nodded.Her long eyelashes were wet, and when I said that, she smiled, tears streaming down her puddles!I felt sad, so I closed my eyes again, and there was a golden star in front of my eyes. When I opened my eyes again, she became Xiuzhen's face. I wiped away my tears and looked carefully, it was still Niuer's.I couldn't control my mouth anymore, and I said:
"Girl, come to me after dinner tonight. Let's meet at the intersection of the alley. I'll take you to Xiuzhen's place. You don't need to bring any clothes. She made you a big bag and I even gave it to you. A watch to show you the time. I want to give Xiuzhen something too."

Then I heard my mother calling me.It turned out that the rain had stopped and the sky was still cloudy.Niuer said:

"Your mother is calling you! Let's stop talking, see you tonight!" She stood up and hurriedly opened the door and went out.

I was very happy, so I stood up with a burst of strength, took off Niuer's clothes, and threw them on the chicken coop.I opened the door and went out, and a cool wind blew me in the yard, and the ground was full of water. My mother told me to walk along the eaves of the corridor, but I had already waded over.Mom took my hand and was about to scold me, when suddenly she pressed my hands, body, and head with both hands, and said in a panic:

"Why is my whole body burning like this, and I'm sick? Is it right? I came back from the sun at noon, my face was flushed, and I was drenched in the rain just now, and now I'm wading in the water again. Water, I always want to play with water! Go and lie down!"

I also felt that I had no strength, and my mother dragged me to the crib.She took off my wet shoes, changed into dry clothes, and put me on the bed, wrapped in a soft quilt. I was really comfortable, and I couldn't help but close my eyes and fell asleep.

When I woke up, I felt hot and kicked off the quilt.At this time, the room was pitch black, and through the gap of the cloth curtain, one could see that the lights in the outer room had been lit.I suddenly remembered an important matter and shouted:
"Mom, are you eating?"

"This way, she actually wants to eat!" It was Dad's voice.Then, my mother came in, brought in a kerosene lamp and put it on the table.I saw that her mouth was still moving, and there was oil on her lips. Did she eat "back meat"?

My mother came to the bed and threatened me, saying: "Dad is going to beat you, and you will eat if you are sick."

I was in a hurry and said:

"I don't want to eat, I didn't eat at all today! I just want to ask if you have eaten? I still have something to do!"

"Damn it!" Mom pushed me down again and said, "Your body is still so hot, I don't know how high your temperature is. I'll buy medicine for you after dinner."

"I don't take medicine. If you give me medicine, I will run away. Don't blame me!"

"Nonsense! After Mama Song finishes eating, ask her to cook gruel for you."

Mom ignored my words, and she went back to the outhouse to eat after she finished speaking.I was lying on the bed, anxious, thinking of going on a date with Niuer and meeting at the entrance of Heng Hutong after dinner. I wonder if she has come?Listen carefully to the sound of pattering rain outside. Although it is not as loud as during the day, there is no place to hide from the rain in the alley, because the entire alley is the back wall of people's houses.I was so anxious that my chest hurt. I rubbed it and coughed. When I coughed, my chest hurt like many needles.

Mom had finished eating at this time, and she and Dad came in.I pressed my hand to my lips, trying to press hard to stop coughing, but my hand was trembling on my mouth; I was trembling, not because I was afraid of my father, I have been trembling since this afternoon, my legs were trembling, my hands were trembling, My heart trembled, and my teeth trembled.At this moment, my mother saw me trembling, took my hand on my lips, and said:

"I'm trembling with fever, I think it's better to ask Dr. Yamamoto for you!"

"Don't! Don't that little Japanese!"

Dad also said at this time:

"Let's talk about it tomorrow morning. I'll use an ice towel to give her a cold head. I still have to write a letter to my hometown and send it out tomorrow morning!"

Mama Song also came in to see me.She suggested to her mother:
"Go to Xihe Niantang's house at Caishikou to buy some small medicines, such as Wanying Tablets, just eat and sleep."

Mom is very obedient, she has always listened to what her father said, and she also listened to Song's mother, so she said:
"Well, Song Ma, let's go to the street to buy something. Yingzi, lie down obediently, take the medicine and get well soon and go to school. Wait, I will also stop by the Fozhaolou to bring your favorite eight treasures May is back."

Now, Bazhenmei can't impress me anymore, I heard that Mom and Song's mother left under umbrellas, and Dad also went to the study, and I was full of thoughts about my date with Niu'er.Is she in a hurry?Will she go back disappointed?
I crawled out of the quilt and landed softly on the ground. My head was heavy and I coughed again, but because I was too nervous, I didn't feel any chest pain this time.I walked to the front of the chest of drawers and stopped, hesitated for a while, and finally boldly opened the drawer where my mother put her clothes. In the innermost and lowermost place was my mother's jewelry box.Mom opened the jewelry box and only picked when Dad was not at home. She didn't hide it from Song Ma and me.

The jewelry box was really pressed under the clothes, I took it out and opened it, and the gold bracelet that my mother made new was inside!My heart skipped a beat, and when I was about to take it, I couldn't help but glance out the window. It was pitch black outside the glass window, and no one was looking around, but I could see my own shadow.I saw how I took out the gold bracelet, how I put the jewelry box back under my clothes, and how I pushed and closed the drawer, my hands were shaking.I want to make money for Xiuzhen and the others. My mother said that two taels of gold are worth a lot of money. I can go to Tianjin, Shanghai, and Japan for a visit, so Xiuzhen and Niuer can go to Hui'an to find Si Kangsan Uncle?Thinking about it this way, I found it very reasonable, so I put the gold bracelet on my arm with confidence.

I turned my head again, and suddenly looked at the glass window, my shadow became clear, no!I was startled, it turned out to be Niuer!She was waving to me, and I ran out quickly. Niu'er's hair was wet, and there was water on her hands. She whispered to me:
"I was afraid that you were really waiting for me in the alley, so I sneaked out after eating. I waited for you for a while, thinking that you would not come. I was just about to go back when I heard your mother and Song's mother passing by, as if to say Who are you going to buy medicine for, I don’t worry about you, let’s take a look, the door of your house is not locked, so I came in.”

"Then let's go!"

"Where are you going? Is that Xiuzhen you were talking about during the day?"

I smiled and nodded to her.

"Look at you smiling so frighteningly! You are sick and confused!"

"Where!" I puffed up my chest, coughed immediately, and quickly bent down again to feel better. I put my hand on her shoulder and said, "You will know as soon as you go, how much she misses you! Compared with my I made a lot of clothes for you. By the way, girl, what do you think about your own mother?"

"Her, I often think in my heart, if she really misses me, she must be as thin as me, with a fair face..."

"Yes, yes, what you said is absolutely right." We both went out the door while talking, the door was dark, I opened the door with my fingers, and there was a gust of wind blowing in with rain , I blew off my short jacket, and my belly was cold and wet, but I still said to her:
"Your mother, with her thin lips, when she smiled, there were two puddles of tears under her eyes, and when she cried, her eye hair was wet and long. She said: Xiao Yingzi, I trust you so much..."

"Ah."

"She said, Xiao Guizi is the lifeblood of both of us!..."

"Ah."

"The first day she saw me, she told me that when she saw Xiao Guizi, she asked her to come back. She didn't eat or wear clothes, so she ran outside, anxious to find her father..."

"Ah."

"She said, tell her to come back, our mother and I will go together, just say that I don't scold her..."

"Ah."

The two of us have already reached the gate of the Hui'an Pavilion. Niu'er listened to me and answered "um, um" while she was sobbing and crying. I put my arms around her and said:

"She is..." I wanted to say a lunatic, but I stopped, because I had long since refused to call her a lunatic, and I changed my mind and said, "People say she misses you and wants to be crazy! Girl, don't Cry, let's go in."

At this moment, Niu'er seemed to ignore everything and wanted me to give her advice. She just walked and cried on my shoulder. She didn't pay attention to where it was.

When I went up the steps of the Hui'an Hall, I pushed lightly, and the door opened. Xiuzhen said that the gate of the Hui'an Hall was not bolted in the first half of the night, because some students came back very late, and a door was locked with a bar. Hold on, that half is closed.I whispered to Niu'er:

"Don't make a sound."

We walked in lightly, lightly, passed under the porter's window, touched the lid of the water tank under the eaves, there was a sound, and there was Xiuzhen's mother inside, and asked:
"Who is it?"

"I, Xiaoyingzi!"

"This child! I'm still looking for Xiuzhen when it's dark, and it's in the courtyard! Don't play too late, do you hear me?"

"Yeah." I agreed, and walked towards the courtyard with Niu'er in my arms.

I have never come here after dark, and when I pushed open the door across the courtyard, there was a creaking sound, as if a needle had passed through my heart, why was it so uncomfortable!In the rain, Niuer and I were walking, and my foot touched something. I looked down and saw that it was the bottle of hangman I caught in the morning. I picked it up, and when I walked to the door, I put it on the window sill.

The back room was lit, but not lit.I opened the door, went in with Niu'er, and stood by the door of the Tongli room.I took Niu'er's hand, and her hand was shaking.

Xiuzhen ignored us and came in, she was packing the box in front of the bed again, with her back to us, she said without turning her head:

"Mom, you don't need to rush me, I'll go back to sleep, I have to pack Sikang's clothes first!"

Xiuzhen thought it was her mother who came in. I didn't answer after hearing this. I didn't know what to do. I wanted to talk, but I couldn't speak, so I just stared blankly at Xiuzhen's back. She often likes it like this, saying that Uncle Sikang likes her dressing up like this, the way she plays with her fingers around the ends of the braids, and the way she bites the ends of the braids and thinks about her thoughts.

Probably because she didn't hear my answer, Xiuzhen turned around suddenly and shouted "Yo", "It's you, Yingzi, you're covered in water!" She ran over, and Niuer hid behind me.

Xiuzhen squatted down and saw the shadow behind me, her eyes widened, and slowly, slowly, she turned her head to look behind me, and a mouthful of hot air was blowing from the back of my neck, it was Niuer who was standing next to me. Because of my back, her breath became more and more anxious, and finally she burst into tears. At this time, Xiuzhen also shouted hoarsely:
"Xiao Guizi! It's my poor little Guizi!"

Xiuzhen pulled Niu'er from behind me, hugged her, and sat down on the ground, hugging, kissing, and stroking Niu'er.Niu'er was dumbfounded, she cried and looked back at me, I took two steps back and leaned against the door frame, wanting to fall down.

After a while, Xiuzhen let go of Niu'er, stood up hastily again, dragged Niu'er to the bed, and said hastily:
"This whole body is wet! Change clothes, we'll catch up all night, we can catch up, listen!" It was the sound of a train whistle in the quiet rainy night, which was so shrill that it frightened people.Xiuzhen raised her head, listened and thought for a while, then continued: "There is a train to Tianjin at [-]:[-], let's catch the big steamer in Tianjin, hurry up!"

(End of this chapter)